The Portland daily press., 1887-04-08
GREAT TIMES IN KANSAS.
The First Election In Which Women
Went to the Polls.
A Very Encouraging Result of the
Experiment In Topeka.
Very Ridiculous Scenes In Some 9th
er Places in the State.

satisfactory. The total registration of this
city was 1884 Of which 1,4O9 were women.
The total woman vote Of this citv
was about 200, and the Democrats concede
that about three-fourths of this number
voted the Republican ticket. 1t can readily
be seen that in the city Of Topeka, at least
the women almost hold the balance Of power.
The ladies who voted were in general good
representatives Of loyal Kansas womanhood
1t had been predicted by the opponents of
municipal suffrage that the vote of the de-
graded and ignorant class Of women would
overbalance the vote of the respectable
ladies, but ths election in Topeka proved
this not to be true. A very large majority
Of the votes cast were by some Of the most
refined and cultured ladies OF the city, and
all appeared TO vote intelligently and with
out hesitation The great portion of the fe-
male vote was cast Immediately after dinner.
Having finished their labors at home, wives
went to the polls with their husbands, moth
ers with their sons, and in many instances
young gentlemen were accompanied to the
polls by their sweethearts. Frequently
silver-haired mother wended her way up to
the polls and cast her ballot. One old lady,
at least 70 years of age, was heard to remark
as she deposited her ballot: II have be-
longed to equal suffrage clubs ever since !
was young woman. l have written and
talked in favor of woman's rights for years
and years. l accompanied Elizabeth Cady
Stanton when she made equal suffrage
speeches in 1860, and today 1 see my hopes
+ x1xv 10 10
The most of the ladies went to the polls
with ballots all ready prepared, and very
often their ballots were scratched. In one
instance lady who is one of the leading
movers of the Methodist church persisted in
placing ON her ballot as her candidate for
Mayor the name of the pastor of that church,
and only after she had been earnestly APP
pealed to by number of friends did she
consent to take down the name of the Rev.
Mr.. Waters and substitute that Of Mr..
Mitsker the Republican candidate. One
lady who lives near the polls came bare
headed and with her baby in her arms. She
had not fully made up her mind which
ticket she desired to vote, but after the
merits Of the two candidates for Mayor had
been. told to her by the Republican and
Democratic members of the Election Board
she decided that she would vote the straight
Democratic ticket. Mitsker (Rep.) was
elected Mayor by 800 majority.
WICHITA, Kan, April Woman suffrage
at this place is not wholly satisfactory in its
practical workings The most ludicrOus
scenes were enacted here during the munich
pal election. There were 600 women regis
tered, and of these 2C0 put down their occu-
patton as sports" About SEQ are Prohibit
tionists and the rest respectable married
ladies with no decided views on the liquor
question. Allen, Republican, and Martin,
Labor, were the candidates for Mayor. The
sports" were first to exercise their newly
acquired privilege, and as they drove up
IN their carriages tney were greeted with
cheers and in some cases insulting remarks.
There are fully 5000 transient strangers in
town, and they gathered around the polls
and watched the fun. The sports" voted
solidly for Martin and the rest of the female
vote was about equally divided. Martin was
elected by 600 majority.
LEAvENwoRTH, Kan, April THE ad-
vent of petticoats in politics has oceasioned
a social warfare here that dwarfs into insig-
niicance the most bitterly contested issues
of the older parties. Leavenworth prides
herself on the claim, more or less conceded,
The army, the gay young officers and the
wealthy conservative families, whose ances-
tors were old settlers when John Brown
tried to inaugurate the new era, compose the
social set. On election day the divinity that
hedges this circle was broken, and the streets
of the city presented a spectacle that will
never be forgotten Refined ladies, robed in
the richest fabrics, turned out in their car
riages, embraced their colored washerwomen
and even held out their hands to sinful sis
ters, for one object; to secure enough female
votes to defeat peregrinating member of
their sex who has stirred up hornets nest
in the city. And they did it. too. But the
margin of triumph is so narrow that they
shudder at the humiliation they so narrowly
escaped.
Mrs. Helen NJ. Cougar of Lafayette, Ind,
prominent temperance organizer, arrived
here week ago TO support Mr.. Garrigues,
the Republican candidate for Mayor. She
delivered number Of campaign speeches,
and the Woman's Christian Temperance I'M
ion rallied to the Republican side. One of
the newspapers published the result of an
interview with her in which she was repre-
sented as saying that the highest social cir
cles of LeayenwOrth were very corrupt.
This caused great anger; Mrs. Cougar de-
ent arrested for criminal libel. He maintain
ed that he had quoted her rightly, and the
society ladies believed him, and organized
aud voted for Mr.. Neely the Democrat.
They determined to ''stoop to conquer" and
it was woman against woman. The men
stood by and gazed on the refreshing sight
with interest.
The law prohibiting the peddling of tick
cts within 80 feet of the polls was enforced.
The ladies were not only enthusiastic for
cations. which would at any other time be
considered disreputable. They recognized
early in the fray that the washerwoman pat
ronage was an element that should not be
overlooked. They pressed into service car
riages of all kinds, and ordered them driven
hither and thither to pick up all classes of
women, irrespective of color or social stand
ing, to cast their ballots for their particular
candidates. Their turn0uts were decorated
with banners and flags, indicating
their special choice for Mayor,
and the polite lady's washerwoman
and her hired girl had to vote as the
polite lady requested or war of words fol-
lowed. Ladies hovered among the men, and
many a sweetheart convinced her lover that
he ought to vote for her candidate. Some
women served lunches in their parlors to
catch the votes of gentlemen who, by a pre-
arranged scheme called on them, but can
never do so again, or not at least until the
next election, And then the gentlemen were
hurried away in luxuriously upholstered We
hicles to place their votes to suit the smiles
of their fair friends and companions.
Col ID. X. Anthony, who assisted Mrs.
Cougar, worked hard for the Republican-Pro-
hibition ticket, and this ticket would have
been elected without trouble but for the un-
fortunate sentiments ascribed to Mrs. Gou-
gar.
When the polls closed the aristocracy be-
hind Neely felt that it had been beaten. At
2 o'clock the full returns gave Neely q ma
j0rity, and the result was received by the
whole city with a hurricane Of applause.
The women all staid up, and their excitement
was intense.
Today vehicles and many stores are decked
with flags, and a big parade in Neely's honor